


Someday

by Purple_gooeyducks



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Artemis and Dick bonding, Bart and Jamie if you squint, Just a little sad thing I wrote a while ago, Set sometime in season 3, Sibling-Like Love, i love these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22277557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_gooeyducks/pseuds/Purple_gooeyducks
Summary: A mission ends in a way that makes Artemis nostalgic, and Dick is the brother she never had who lends a hand.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Dick Grayson, Artemis Crock/Wally West, Bart Allen & Jaime Reyes
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46





	Someday

Bart turned to Artemis, eyes wide. “Did I-” he was cut short with Artemis’s hand on his shoulder pulling him into a tight hug. 

Artemis’s mind was numb, seeing the exact occurrence of her boyfriend’s death from so many years ago happen again to someone else in front of her very eyes, intentional or not, still took its toll. But she turned her attention to the young kid shaking against her, only 16. He was the same age Wally was when Artemis first met him, and now the similar young speedster had sent someone to their death. 

“It’s not your fault kid.” Dick found his voice and approached them, locking eyes with Artemis for a brief moment before patting Bart on the back and turning to report that the threat had been taken care of. 

“Are you okay?” Artemis whispered. Bart nodded against her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry- I thought- I didn’t mean-” Bart gulped. “The hug is nice”. He tried to change the subject. 

They pulled apart, and Jaime hesitantly walked over to put his arm across Bart’s shoulder in comfort. Bart sighed and leaned into Jaime.

Artemis took a step back, distancing herself, and Bart’s leg jerked as if to step forward and comfort her in the same way she did for him. “Are you?” he gestured to her.

“I’m fine. Really.” Artemis stated, wishing that everyone would stop looking at her. She started walking, her limbs tight, going in the opposite direction that the Bioship was in. “Fine.” she muttered when she noticed Dick’s muscles in his arm twitching as an attempt to reach out to her. “I’ll catch up with you guys tomorrow” she said stiffly, needing a break from being a hero for the night. 

She wandered aimlessly for a long part of the night, tortured by her memories. It was about nine when she found herself at the ruins of the volcano base. The sun was just starting to set, courtesy of the late summers. The rest of the team was probably at M’ gann and Connor’s farm or their own homes by now, but Artemis couldn’t bring herself to go back to her house. No doubt, Dick probably informed Will that she would be late, she just couldn’t bring herself to go back to the house that her and Wally first bought so many years ago as a promise of planting roots together. 

A lump crawled up her throat, and she forced it back down. Ironic, since even though she didn’t want to be around things that reminded her of Wally, she had come back to the place that started it all. A choked sob escaped her as she landed dejectedly on the sand. Bits of rubble weaved into the sand, bit into her palm as she clenched her fist. The waves lapped continuously at the shore, unaware of and unbothered by her pain.

The sun was nearly set when she looked up, which she promptly realized was a mistake, because the orange glow coming off the clouds was the exact shade of Wally’s hair. All bright and angled, its plea for attention bore an uncanny resemblance to the boy she remembered fondly.

Of course, now it was a burden. Instead of the tingly warmth she used to feel every time something reminded her of what was waiting back home, she only felt another piece of armor attach itself to her heart. She was rebuilding a suit that few people knew about, and even less could tell the difference between. Most of the people that she works with now are children that hardly knew her before Wally disappeared. Only the original other YJ members left, along with Will and Zatanna could honestly say that they knew her in her early hero days. And really only Dick could see right through her façade anymore.

It’s not that she’s miserable. She still has a life of her own, helping out Will with Lian after her sister ditched them and caring for the younger members of the expanded new Young Justice team with Dick and Connor. She has continued to be a hero, but part of her was missing, and she couldn’t bring herself to continue wearing the same mask and act like nothing had changed.

She wrapped her arms around her legs, pressing them tightly against her body, trying to subdue her shaking as silent sobs rocked her form. 

After a while, she raised her head. The moon was shining above her, and she leaned her head back, closing her eyes and letting tears stream hotly down her face, before opening her eyes fully. More tears danced in her eyes and made the moon look like its reflection on the water rather than itself. Artemis blinked them out of the way, and stared up at the moon, contemplating. 

“I don’t know if, well-” Artemis choked back another broken sob before trying for a smile. “If- uh, if you can hear me.” She sighed. “This is dumb.” She mumbled to herself, tearing her eyes away from the moon, and drying most of the tears with her hands. She peeked back at the moon and it continuously blinked blankly back at her. Acid bubbled in the pit of her stomach, and she felt a surge of sudden anger at its unwavering face. 

“How could you leave?!” She shouted back at the sky, not caring if anyone could hear her. At the moment, she was on her own island. “We were done. The mission was- we did our part. And then you just ran into battle, headfirst. Not caring about the risks, or who you were leaving behind.” Her shoulders lurched as more violent sobs wracked her body, now openly and no longer trying to conceal her emotions. 

Her sobs quieted until they were just wrecked breathing and gulping. There were no more tears left to fall. “You never even said goodbye” she whispered brokenly. “I know you’re a hero, but-” she trailed off. What would she have wanted him to do? Sacrifice the world so that they could have another minute together? She knew that wouldn’t be the answer. They had both been heroes for too long. They knew the risks, and she had no right to ask him to compromise his ideals for her. But a selfish part of her that was raised in a family where you take things for yourself, and damn the consequences, kept nagging at the back of her mind. 

“I just-” Her voice cracked. “I miss you, dummy.” Sighing, she heard someone trudging up behind her and didn’t have to look to know who it was.

“I miss him too.” Dick’s voice rang out clearly in the night. He paused. “Am I intruding?” Artemis shook her head, throat sore, and shuffled to the side even though they were on the ever- expansive beach. Dick still appreciated the gesture and sat silently next to her, eyes forward, before taking out a canister and holding it to her. “I figured you’d be dehydrated, so I brought you some tea.”

Artemis accepted it gratefully and opened it, she took a giant whiff before taking a small sip. “Couldn’t have brought anything stronger?” A ghost of a smile hinted at her lips.

Dick chuckled, “didn’t think it was that kind of night.” He answered cheekily.

Artemis hummed in response and took another sip, letting the heat course through her body before knocking shoulders with him. “Thank you, Dick. You really didn’t have to.”

He snorted. “And what? Leave you to yelling at the sky by yourself? Do you really think I would miss out on that,” He turned to look her. His eyes were also puffy- she didn’t notice until now. “I know,” he said softly. “It’s been a long night, I could use the company.” They looked at each other before turning to look out at the sky again.  
Artemis leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder feeling drowsy and emotionally drained, when he gently nudged her. “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me yet- there’s still one thing I wanna show you.” She grumbled incoherently before rubbing her eyes. 

“Alright, I'm awake. This better be good.” Artemis looked sideways at him, and Dick tried to hide a growing smile before fidgeting around in his pockets and finally bringing out his phone. She sighed while Dick scrolled through his phone, trying to find the exact thing he wanted to show her. “What did Tim or Gar do this time?” She asked, expecting him to rant about something work related. 

But what he showed her was far from what she expected. 

“Is that- Oh my god. You actually kept that?!” Artemis’s eyes got wide and she took the phone from him, staring at the photo. It was so long ago, that she nearly forgot it even happened. Until- “Wait. That was you?” 

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah,” He trailed off. “Well, I did say that we’d laugh about that someday, and now seems like the time we’re in need of a laugh the most. 

Artemis choked out a laugh, eyes sparkling with memories of the past, and the absurdity of it being eight years ago now when they started it all. She handed Dick’s phone back, “Make sure to send that to me.” She told him, before returning her head to rest on his shoulder. 

He sighed contently, a smile gracing his lips. Then he wrapped his arm comfortably around Artemis’s shoulders giving her a one armed hug. “Night Arty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Artemis woke up, despite having slept on the sand, she had to admit it was one of the best night sleep she had in a long time. She also realized that she was covered in a blanket that she didn’t remember having earlier. Smirking softly she rolled her eyes. Leave it to Dick to always be prepared. She realized that she was using Dick’s arm as a pillow, and her arm had pulled the blanket subconsciously over herself and Dick. It reminded her of the late night slumber parties they used to have at this very mountain many years ago. 

Careful not to wake Dick, she rolled over on her back and sat up, squinting at the bright early morning rays of the sunrise and letting the heat wash over her.

Dick groaned from beside her, stretching out all his limbs and yawning before rolling over to his side to engage with her. “You okay?” he searched her eyes.

She snorted loudly. “Define okay.”

Dick grimaced and nodded his head. “Alright, point taken.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “But you’re better?”  
Artemis turned and looked him in the eye before nodding. 

“I’m better,” she paused. “And thank you.”

Dick smiled. “It’s no problem, I’m glad you’re better.”

“Yeah, me too.” Artemis’s corner of her mouth curled upwards. “Also, where’d you get the blanket?”

Dick raised his eyebrows at her in mock outrage. “You do remember who you’re talking to right? I’ve had the utility belt that holds pretty much everything since I was like, eight.”

“Right,” Artemis grinned. “How could I forget the infamous utility belt.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago and found it recently. So I edited it up, and off to the fandom it goes!  
> Constructive feedback and/ or bursts of excitement welcome!


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